Wset Diploma Spirits General

Front 1

Selecting a raw material

Back 1

Determine the category & style of spirit to be produced

Front 2

Processing the raw material

Back 2

to produce a sugar soloution for alcoholic fermentation

Front 3

Alcoholic Fermentation

Back 3

to produce alcohol & congeners

Front 4

Distillation

Back 4

To concentrate & select alcohols & congeners

Front 5

Post-Distillation Operations

Back 5

(optional or limited by law) to refine or add to a spirits flavour & appearance, ready for sale

Front 6

Congener compounds produced from fermentation are also known as

Back 6

Flavours.

Front 7

An Alcoholic liquid is made up of water (the vast majority) &...

Back 7

a number of different congeners & alcohols.

Front 8

Ethanol

Back 8

boils at 78.3 degrees.

Front 9

Copper is frequently used in stills & distillation apparatus

Back 9

because it is very malleable & an excellent conductor heat. Also reacts with sulphur compounds & removes them from final spirit

Front 10

Reflux occurs when vapours & liquids come into contact with each other.

Back 10

heat is needed to turn a liquid into vapours that rise up the still. as heat is lost some condense & fall back as liquids through more rising vapours

Front 11

Whenever liquid & vapour meet (in a still) the heat is shared between them resulting in...

Back 11

the more volatile fractions of both becoming vapour & the less volatile fractions becoming liquid.

Front 12

When Reflux occurs it helps to

Back 12

increase the amount of separation between fractions.

Front 13

Rectification is

Back 13

the progressive increase in the level of ethanol that is a result of reflux.

Front 14

More reflux results in

Back 14

more rectification & a more alcoholic product.

Front 15

A spirit that is very high in alcohol - 90% abc or more

Back 15

is often referred to as highly rectified.

Front 16

Rectification Plates are found

Back 16

in all coloum stills & can be included in pot stills too.

Front 17

Rectifiation plates are designed to

Back 17

maximise the interaction between liquid & vapour, therefore improving rectification.

Front 18

All rectification plates are able to

Back 18

hold a layer of liquid. vapours from below are forced through this liquid & as a result of this reflux, more highly rectified vapours pass up the next level.

Front 19

A Head Condenser is a feature commonly found in modern stills.

Back 19

cold water is circulated through an enclosed section in the top of the still.

Front 20

The flow of cold water can be varied & therefore the amount of reflux controlled.

Back 20

This is sometimes referred to as a dephlegmator.

Front 21

Condensers cool the spirit vapours down so they can be drawn off...

Back 21

usually using water as a coolant which needs to e constantly refreshed as the water itself heats up.

Front 22

A Worm / Serpentine Condenser comprises of a

Back 22

bath of cold water with a tube running through the middle which cools.

Front 23

Shell & Tube condensers

Back 23

allow the vapour to pass through a number of narrow vertical tubes, which are each surrounded by water. this maximises the surface area which the vapours touch.

Front 24

Coloumn stills are

Back 24

large structures that are internally divided with rectification plates ranging from as few as 15 to as many as 42.

Front 25

Pot Stills are

Back 25

traditional & a simple pot in which liquid is boiled with connection tubes which link to a condenser.

Front 26

Batch Distillation means that a liquid must undergo 2 or more separate distillations in order to produce a final spirit.

Back 26

Stills need to be constantly filled, used, emptied & cleaned.

Front 27

Batch Distillation is most commonly associated with

Back 27

Pot Stills

Front 28

Pots Still come in many shapes and sizes but all share the following:

Back 28

heat source, a pot into which the liquid is placed, a head where alcoholic vapours gather / reflux takes place, a linking tube to the condenser often known as a lynne arm or swan neck & a condenser.

Front 29

Pot Still can be

Back 29

heated with an open flame, steam or a water bath.

Front 30

Regarding the shape of stills in batch production

Back 30

the greater the height, the greater the temperature gradient & greater the reflux will be.

Front 31

The connecting tube in batch production is also important because

Back 31

if the tube is angled upward, reflux can still take place but not if it is angled down.

Front 32

During the 1st distillation, all of the liquid that flows off is collection as one product.

Back 32

During the 2nd distillation the liquid is divided into 3 parts. The head, the heart & the tails.

Front 33

The 2nd distillations continues to concentration process

Back 33

but is also used to determine the style & flavour of the end product.

Front 34

Heads are

Back 34

the first liquid to flow off which contains high volumes of volatile fractions with lower boiling points than ethanol & all the other undesirable congeners in particular, methanol.

Front 35

Choosing when to syphon of the heads is sometimes known as

Back 35

The Cut.

Front 36

Heart is the

Back 36

portion used to make the final spirit & has high concentrations of ethanol& all the desirable congeners.

Front 37

Tails

Back 37

come about when the boiling point of the liquid in the still changes as less liquid is present as hearts have been removed.

Front 38

Most distilleries try to ensure the levels of heads & hearts which are removed

Back 38

remain consistent in order to end up with a consistent product.

Front 39

Tails can also be

Back 39

redistilled as it still contains a volume of ethanol.

Front 40

Continuous Distilllation can only

Back 40

occur in a column still which means a constant flow of spirit.

Front 41

Continuous distillation is very efficient

Back 41

but only suitable for high volumes as the quantity of alcoholic liquid needed to support the whole process is huge.

Front 42

As with a pot still, the column still requires...

Back 42

A heat source, ways of promoting reflux & a stripper / rectifier.

Front 43

The classic example of continuous distillation still is

Back 43

the Coffey still, patented by Aeneas Coffey in 1830.

Front 44

(Continuous distillation) For more neutral spirits it is common to take the spirit up to 96%

Back 44

which can be aided by 2 processes; Hydoselection & de-methylising.

Front 45

Hydroselection

Back 45

(continuous distillation) removes fusel oils (a biproduct)

Front 46

De-Methylising

Back 46

(continuous distillation) reduces methanol levels.

Front 47

Post Distillation Operations include

Back 47

Maturation. Addition of Flavours. Blending. Finishing.

Front 48

With Barrel Ageing

Back 48

lots of choices can be made; size of barrel, age of barrel, char level & previous contents.

Front 49

rate of evaporation in barrel is hugely affected by the temperature & humidity of the warehouse.

Back 49

High temp cause the liquid to expand as a greater volume penetrates the wood. Even the top of a warehouse is usually higher in temp than the bottom.

Front 50

Breaking Down

Back 50

is the dilution or adding of water.

Front 51

Most spirits have their colour adjusted

Back 51

by the addition of caramel or product consistency. (Finishing)

Front 52

Filtering - Most consumers prefer a clear drink.

Back 52

Haze can be removed by char-filtration whereby the spirit is chilled causing the haze to form, which is then removed via filtration.